Honoring the fallen? Or using soldiers' bodies for political capital?

Before dawn this morning, President Barack Obama went to Dover Air Force Base to pay his respects to 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan as their bodies were returned to the United States. The dead included seven Army soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Administration agents who died when their helicopter crashed on Monday. The media were allowed to be present only after one of the grieving families gave their consent. Associated Press photographer Pablo Martinez Monsivais took this photo.

It was the first time Obama has gone to Dover to meet a plane carrying the bodies of dead warriors. Former President George W. Bush often visited with wounded soldiers and their families, but never went to Dover. Do you think it was appropriate for Obama to go?